Gender Summit Europe: Using gender to shape the societal impact of science

The Gender Summit is a platform for dialogue with a mission: to use scientific evidence and multi-stakeholder consensus to address gender problems in science. Specifically, the focus is on improving quality of science knowledge, science practice and science institutions so that women and men can expect the same outcomes. A look at the A-Z Guide of Why Gender Matters in Research and Innovation will reveal 200 examples of research topics where the effects of sex-gender difference have been demonstrated.

The Gender Summit was established in 2011. Initially, the focus was Europe, and the aim was to enable dialogue between scientists, policymakers and gender scholars to better understand the role of sex-gender in science endeavors. Since then, the Gender Summit has expanded to other global regions: Europe, Africa, Asia Pacific, North America, and Latin America.

This is the second time the Gender Summit platform is being hosted by the Parliament. The first time was in 2012 when the European Parliament was discussing the European Commission’s proposal for Horizon 2020. It helped raise policymakers’ awareness of the benefits of addressing gender issues in science, and shaped the gender content of the Horizon 2020 program. Gender is now included as a criterion of success measured in three ways: increase in the number of women in scientific roles, increase in projects with a gender dimension, and progress on cross-cutting impacts.

The Gender Summits

The upcoming Gender Summit 9 - Europe (GS9) is on November 8 and 9 in Brussels. The theme is “Gender-based research, innovation and development for sustainable economies and societal wellbeing.” Late registration is available until October 25. Register here.

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Support from the Elsevier Foundation

For a small organization like Portia, contributing to this progress would not have been possible without the support of certain influential players in the science world who share our goal to improve the situation of women in research and innovation. The Elsevier Foundation's New Scholars program has supported the Gender Summit from the beginning.

Quick question for you

Which terms do you most associate with Elsevier? (check all that apply)

Dr. Elizabeth Pollitzer is co-founder and Director of Portia Ltd., a London-based nonprofit organization focused on improving gender equality in science and inclusion of gender dimension in research and innovation content. She has served as "architect" of the Gender Summit since its inception in 2011, guiding its focus on gender issues in research and innovation and helping to bring together the scientists, policy makers, gender scholars and others groups in the science system.